Minor Notes.
_Doctor Johnson a Prophet._--Can any of your readers inform me where the
following anecdote is recorded? It bears the mark of authenticity, and
if so adds, to the extraordinary gifts of the great moralist, that of
prophecy; be it observed, however, that the prognostication is founded
on a deduction of science. As the Doctor was one evening leaning out of
the window of his house in Bolt Court, Fleet Street, he observed the
parish lamplighter nimbly ascend a ladder for the purpose of lighting
one of the old glimmering oil lamps which only served to make "darkness
visible." The man had scarcely descended the ladder half way, when he
discovered that the flame had expired; quickly returning he lifted the
cover partially, and thrusting the end of his torch beneath it, the
flame was instantly communicated to the wick by the thick vapour which
issued from it.
"Ah!" exclaimed the Doctor, after a pause, and giving utterance to his
thoughts, "Ah! one of these days the streets of London will be lighted
by smoke!" It is needless to add that in the succeeding century the
prediction was verified.